Iowa Wesleyan succumbs to Storm in first meet with fans

MT. PLEASANT — Over two years after the inception of the Iowa Wesleyan wrestling program, the Tigers finally got to grapple in front of their home fans on Wednesday night.

Iowa Wesleyan nearly pulled of the win against the visiting storm. The Tigers fell by just five points, at 24-19.

“We've got some work to do,” said Iowa Wesleyan head coach Shawn Contos. “We're young.”

And young they are. The entire Iowa Wesleyan lineup on Wednesday consisted of freshmen, but the Tigers still battled to the very end with a much more experienced Simpson squad.

“For a lot of them this was their first match,” Contos said. T“he atmosphere that we had drains you quick. We've got to learn how to balance that energy before we give it all away early.”

That problem reared its head all night, but especially in the first and last match of the night. Kyle Thibodeaux held an early lead in his 125-pound match, which ended in a n 8-6 loss. At 197 pounds, Elias Cordero led right up until the final seconds of a 9-8 defeat.

“I was really proud of Elias,” Contos said. “That kid beat him 13-2 at the Simpson Open, so he's wrestling harder, and he's figuring it out.”

Iowa Wesleyan won four matches on the day, two of which came by forfeit. Ray Hernandez won via major decision at 133 pounds, and Brent Ward outlasted his opponent 17-10 at 149.

The rest of the Tigers who hit the mat wound up in the loss column. This includes 2021 Washington graduate Ayden Frazer, who hung tough with Simpson junior Shane Mathias but never scored in a 6-0 shutout.

The Tigers’ forfeits went to Caeleen Shannon at 174 pounds and Wyatt Nelson at 285. Former Fairfield prep Brendon Lunsford (285 pounds) wasn’t in the Tigers’ starting lineup.

SIMPSON COLLEGE 24, IOWA WESLEYAN 19

125: Carter Logue (SC) over Kyle Thibodeaux (IW) (Dec. 8-6); 133: Ray Hernandez (IW) over Jason Padilla (SC) (Maj. Dec. 14-5); 141: Zach Stewart (SC) over Ty Broussard (IW) (Fall 2:29); 149: Brent Ward (IW) over Josh Bower (SC) (Dec. 17-10); 157: Robert Silva (SC) over Jesus Diaz (IW) (Fall 2:31); 165: Jakob Slavin (SC) over Adin Garay (IW) (Dec. 4-2); 174: Caelen Sahnnon (IW) wins by forfeit; 184: Shane Mathias (SC) over Ayden Frazer (IW) (Dec. 6-0); 197: Andrew Wolff over Elias Cordero (IW) (Dec. 9-8); 285: Wyatt Nelson (IW) wins by forfeit.